Casus Belli

by StatiZkyZ

Just... One more

Author's Note:

Warning: Reading this chapter will change the whole perspective of the first chapter. If you want to keep the whole dramatic and epic feeling from the story, reading this chapter might change the experience.

This is a much more lighthearted reason for the war, and uses a world that's much more closer to the canon, except it's still an alternate universe, obviously. If you want something more cheerful, go ahead and read this chapter.

Hope you like it~

The sun is finally raised by Celestia, indicating that nighttime has passed, and morning has arrived.

Never the mare to miss any opportunity to take care of her personal beauty, the first thing Rarity did is look at the mirror to comb her mane, making sure not a single strand is out of place. A mare like her must always keep her appearance flawless. It's her whole life, after all. Smiling at her reflection, she decides that she looks good enough to leave the room, and into the hallways.

However, while she's walking, she noticed that one of the doors that leads into a room is slightly open. Strange, that usually never happens. Curious, the unicorn takes a peek inside, pushing the door wider with her head.

"Twilight, darling? You still there?"

What greets Rarity is Twilight, looking slightly groggy, with her chin on the table. She's staring at a monitor, part of the new invention called the Personal Computer, or PC for short, that Sunset had introduced to the princesses a year ago. Judging from the look of the alicorn, it seems that she's awake for quite a while.

"Ugghh... Just one... more..." Twilight babbled as she uses her hoof to click on the mouse. "One more... turn..."

When she pressed it, Rarity was already behind her, taking a look at what the alicorn was doing. She's playing the game that her friends had been playing for a while: Civilization VI. It's basically a game where a player can create their own civilizations from scratch, from the stone age to the future. They can build cities, improve it, create armies, and such. Thanks to... plenty of ponies, the game is heavily modified, to the point where Twilight's friends are 'created' into the game so they can play as themselves or each other, each with their own unique abilities.

Among their group of friends, Rarity and Twilight are the two of the best players, and they just went head to head last night. Twilight and Rarity usually goes for Science and culture, respectively, and they almost never fail. However, last time Twilight had unexpectedly changed her strategy by declaring war to Rarity. Her scientific prowess gives her the edge, upgrading her military rapidly to the point it made Rarity's army obsolete in battle. The unicorn lost before she can get her culture up, resulting in Twilight's victory through domination. That was Rarity's first defeat.

Looking at the screen, Rarity noticed the layout and the names of the cities Twilight is looking at. When the turn ends, the sounds of something built are heard through the speakers. This caused Twilight to pump her hoof, though her voice doesn't sound as excited as it should be.

"Y-Yes...!" She leans back from the screen. "Finally, everything is... fixed."

What Rarity can see are the names of the cities that's supposed to be in her civilization, but the purple color means it belongs to Twilight. The layout is kinda similar too. Rarity might be the most meticulous in planning her districts, but she recognizes the... view.

"Twilight, is that... from our session last night?" The unicorn asked. Only now Twilight turns her head towards Rarity.

"Yeah..." The mare yawned. "Spent the... entire night, fixing all your cities, he he..."

Rarity can't help but snicker. Why did Twilight even do all that?

"Hm hm, whatever for, dear? Sounds like you're sacrificing your sleep time for something so simple."

"Just to make up for... yesterday." Twilight rests her hooves on the table to support herself up. Inside, Twilight felt a little bad for doing Rarity like that. She knows how the first defeat can sting, especially in a war in Civilization. It's always a slow grind where the losing side will slowly get weaker and weaker until there's nothing they can do but get finished off.

"Oh, come now, it's just a simple game between us." Rarity chuckles into her hoof, but she can't help seeing what Twilight had did to her conquered cities.

It seems like the alicorn had repaired all the districts and improvements that were damaged by the war. Always someone that will not take any risks, Twilight is not afraid to pillage to gain an advantage in a war. Rarity's Violet Guards made the fight pretty hard, sometimes coming out from nowhere to attack. Unfortunately, it's not enough in the end. The damage Twilight's army did was pretty heavy, but it looks like she repaired them all. All this because in her love of the game, what Rarity really loves to see and do in game is to carefully build her districts and improvements as efficiently as it is pleasing to look at.

On one hoof, Twilight is a bit jealous of how good her friend is at designing the layouts of her cities. It's the reason why Rarity is so good at the game, especially with her own civilization heavily focused on culture and wealth. Even when she's not too good at it, it's what caused her armies to be quite formidable too. Who knows by doing this, Twilight herself can learn a few things about district building.

"I do appreciate this gesture of yours though. Wasn't it fun and satisfying how all my placements are so effective?" Rarity chuckles again. "Really though, Twilight, as addicting the game can be, don't lose your sleep hours because of it."

"I'm just about... done anyway." Twilight let out a weak chuckle herself.

Rarity uses her magic to help Twilight get up, even going an extra step to slightly comb her messy mane. The alicorn exits the game and starts walking away from her computer. Thankfully she has several free hours to sleep. That's why she can spend the night doing what she did. As she's walking away, Rarity speaks to her again.

"Next time we must have a rematch, Twilight." The unicorn winks, Twilight simply chuckles and nods lightly as she makes her way to her bedroom for a long overdue sleep.

Rarity stays in the room, staring at the screen for a bit before exiting the game to shut down the computer. Her record of three wins is no longer perfect with her defeat to Twilight. Sure, it kinda stings to lose to your friend for the first time, but it's not that big of a deal. However this makes her think of the game. She already promised to face Pinkie next time, wondering how she can deal with her friend's gameplay and focus on amenities... Especially that unique Rock band unit of hers.

Suddenly, a scream.

The noise made Rarity jump slightly, turning to the door where it came from. Twilight opens and enters the room again, her eyes wide open. Not because she's no longer tired, but it looks like she had seen a ghost. Rarity is about to ask what's wrong, but what Twilight said next made it all too clear.

"I forgot to save, didn't I!?"

Comments

[superfun]

I like this sillier ending

[Nineveh Orion]

... Meh. It is funnier. But this just kinda renders Chapter 1 pointless. Now, if this was just all in one chapter, with this funnier side being what was really going on, and everything before it just in the game, then it works.

Now it just feels tacked on for no reason.

[StatiZkyZ]

10518592
Well, I did put a warning there for a reason

I did consider putting it in the first chapter, but I'm not sure if it'll flow well. Plus, I don't want risk someone scrolling down too low and just butchered the experience.

[Pete100]

Oh god, I needed this.

[Pepperbrony]

"I forgot to save, didn't I!?"

Relax Twi, it has autosave.

[The Collapsed Library]

That first chapter is really good as a one off, but I'm really glad this one exists. I dont know how many sessions I've ruined by not saving.

[StatiZkyZ]

10519582
One of the main experiences of playing Civ is forgetting to save Other then having a warmongering AI for no reason, that is.

[Flashbunny]

This story desperately needs someone to go through it and fix the grammatical errors.

[StatiZkyZ]

10519603
In the first chapter? I swear I cleaned them up... Can you point some for me? It would be greatly appreciated.

10519692
Second chapter should be fixed now! I might've submitted the wrong version

[StatiZkyZ]

10526086
Oh? Did I made an unintentional reference?~

Honestly, no, I have next to no knowledge of Doctor Who

[Bahamuttone]

10519789
Well... the tenses are all over the place and there are a couple of typo.

[Allsmiles]

(Ahhhh, I love things like this!

Games! All of the drama, none of the actual tears and heartache! Let loose the dogs of war! Virtually.)